The Easiest Way to Develop Film at Home in 3 Minutes - Cinestill Df96 Review

In this video I go through what I have found is the easiest way to develop black and white film at home. This is done using the Cinestill DF96 Monobath which is a developer that takes 3 minutes. If you are a beginner looking into how to develop film at home to get started this is by far the easiest way to ease into developing film.

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My Work:

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[larrbrown]

You looked about the same age when I started doing this and I am 81yrs young good job going to try that developer good show.

[kanecain]

Its been 6 months now and I'm still on my 1st bottle of the stuff. So far, I've developed about 20-25 rolls of film (medium and 35mm), increasing the development time by a minute or so per used roll. Still going strong. I use it at room temperature, which is usually about 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour it in, give it about ten seconds of initial agitation, then agitate once every minute for about 5 seconds, while watching an episode of your favorite TV show, for a total time of about 20-25 minutes. You can leave it in for as long as you want, since its temperature activated. Just make sure you agitate at least five seconds per minute.

[randallstewart]

Apart from is apparent convenience feature, two basic errors are made. At $20 a bottle (liter) with a 16 roll maximum capacity, Df96 costs $1.25 per roll. That seems cheap to someone who sends out their B&W developing, but it's more than triple the cost per roll of using conventional developer and fixer at home, even if the conventional developer expires before fully used. Also, Df96 is not a developer for someone who shoots a couple of rolls a month. Once the bottle is first opened (and presumably first used), it has a shelf life of 2 months. Two rolls a month becomes 4 rolls to expiration, or $5.00 per roll. Again, you can buy a gallon of D-76 for $10, use it 1:1 as a one shot developer, tossing out the used solution as you go. That's about 30 rolls or about $.30 per roll, but other dilutions will be more economical. If the stock solution ages out after 6 - 9 months, you can afford to toss the remainder and still run a per roll cost which is a faction of the cost of Df96. That cost difference is for the convenience and short developing times of Df96, but the developing times increase as you reuse Df96, so you have the added hassle of recording your ongoing usage and computing a new developing time for each new reuse. Df96 seems to have a surprisingly good image quality, given the checkered history of monobaths, probably similar to D-76, better than HC-110. Cinestill has some excellent photo comparisons on their website.

[oscar]

I’ve developed like 5 rolls so far with DF96 and it’s just so ridiculously simple. Pretty good results so far too!

[CHiLECHiLL]

Willem Verbeeck is the truth, i just want to chill with this guy and grab some bagels in NY

[JacobCarlson]

I saw Ed Pavez' video about this stuff last year. It's like magic and it's so cheap! Considering how expensive getting b&w developed in a lab is, this stuff is a no-brainer

[ilseoudheusden]

ordered all the stuff, tried it, and it worked!! super happy with it because this was my first time developing a roll. thank you so much. it really is as easy as it seems

[BryanBirks]

Just bought this kit. $1 a roll compared to $8 develop at the lab and waiting a week was just too tempting. 🤙🏻

[EddieInzauto]

Just discovered this stuff. Amazing. Thanks for the demo. Lucky for me, I dig heavier contrast rather than excessively open shadows. Win win.

[chrisdavenport]

I just bought this type of developer and I am sitting here with my film in the tank and ready to go. It looks way too easy. WAY!! Here we go!! Thanks for the tutorial.

[hoorayforpentax]

"I don't think a developer like this will ever exist for colour film." But you'd love to be proven wrong, wouldn't you?

[mamiyapress]

You missed one important point, once the bottle is opened it has approximately a 2 month shelf life, a bottle of Rodinal will last for years.

[sarova]

IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE BUYING:

I went all the way and bought it and... it works, it's quite convenient for the simplicity of having just one bath of chemicals, BUT I wouldn't recommend this for begginers because it's not worth it in terms of money. See, 16 rolls could seem like a lot, and for most people it is, specially for begginers, but what all these videos don't tell you (and you have to go to cinestill's website to know this) is that once you open the bottle, it expires in two months. So means that, in order to make the most out of it, you would have to shoot and develop 16 rolls of film in two months, and that's just unrealistic for begginers, which are the main focus of this product. Also, it produces worse results than the more traditional development methods, in wich you have more control over the final product, and is more expensive keeping in mind the price, the shelf life, the number of rolls... so I wouldn't recommend this product.

[neilfoddering]

Several years ago, I bought a Tachihara 5x4 camera and all of the accessories needed to shoot large format. I’ve never used it, because I don’t have access to professional film processing for this format, nor do I have darkroom facilities. Until I came across your video, I was totally unaware of this one shot developer/fixer. Watching your video and learning how simple and quick it is to develop my own films without a darkroom has completely rekindled my interest in large format photography. I shall also start to develop my 35mm and 120 B&W films at home. Thank you so much for such an interesting and informative video!

[jimmygarcia]

Great video I'm 67 years old....I started photography in 1977 while stationed at NAS Guam...I have nothing but Nikons....lov my D300

[ScottHead]

Thanks for this review. I do both BW and color at home and this seemed too good to be true or at least gimmicky. But with your review I will try this.

[baileydiss]

i'm about to begin my film photography journey, happy to have found this vid!!

[lauraguedes]

i just used your video as a background to write an descriptive process for my english 2 class at uni :) thanks

[paulkerruems]

10/10 for superb brevity and followability*
*not a word

[pedromeza]

You are and Old Soul photographer, that is relearning a past life, I have been developing film since my Junior High days in the late 1960's, and will definitely look into this new chemical one stop develop method. In your video did you mention what type of water to use for the rinse, because some many people nowadays have water softener that can have salty water.